March 23, 1999 - March 26, 1999 - April 10, 1999 - May 7, 1999 - June 6, 1999 - August 18, 1999 - September 1, 1999
October 21, 1999 - December 12, 1999
Also announced are the dates for Jeff's '99 tour and the are as follows:
DATE CITY VENUE 03/15/99 Washington DC 9:30 Club 03/16/99 Philadelphia PA Tower Theatre 03/17/99 Austin TX US SXSW(La Zona Rosa) 03/19/99 New York NY Roseland 03/20/99 Boston MA Orpheum Theater 03/21/99 Wallingford CT SNET Oakdale Theatre 03/23/99 Pittsburgh PA A.J. Palumbo Center 03/24/99 Toronto Canada Massey Hall 03/26/99 Detroit MI Fox Theatre 03/27/99 Columbus OH Palace Theater 03/28/99 Cincinnati OH Taft Theatre 03/30/99 Indianapolis IN Murat Center 03/31/99 Akron OH E.J. Thomas Hall 04/02/99 Milwaukee WI Eagles Ballroom 04/03/99 Chicago IL Chicago Theater 04/06/99 New Orleans LA House of Blues 04/08/99 Houston TX Bayou City Theatre 04/09/99 Austin TX The Backyard 04/10/99 Dallas TX Starplex Amphitheater 04/12/99 Albuquerque NM Kiva Auditorium 04/13/99 Phoenix AZ Symphony Hall 04/15/99 Las Vegas NV Hard Rock Hotel-The Joint 04/16/99 San Diego CA SDSU Open Air Theater 04/17/99 Los Angeles CA Universal Ampitheatre 04/18/99 Oakland CA Paramount Theater
For those of you who follow our little endeavor, over the summer during the European tour we gave you setlists with the names of some of Jeff's new material. For the album although the songs are the same the titles have changed. 'Arab Hoot' has changed to 'Psycho Sam', 'La Veranese' changed to 'Angel's Strut', 'New Tech' changed to 'What Mama Said' (and will be the single release from the Lp), 'Fonn Mall' changed to 'Declan', the Bulgarian tune (referred to in the Batten Report) changed to 'Blast From The East' and 'Seven' changed to 'Hip-Notics'. Also on the release will be the song 'Another Place' dedicated to the late Cozy Powell.
Also for our Japanese and European fans, we have learned that a tour of Japan will start in the last week of May followed by another European tour (we're not sure at this time if it will include the U.K.) at the end of June.
A little bit of news from the tour front...our roving 'hotrod' reporter Steve Rolley got to talk shop with Jeff after the Philly gig. Once again Jeff greeted Steve as 'the guy with 202 angle plugs'(for Jeff's small block Chevy engines). Jeff indicated that he was having a street rod being prepped for him in California and that he just may drive it all the way back to New York after the tour to stick it on a boat home to England. A most affable Ralph Baker greeted Steve and said that we (at this webpage) were certainly the 'hardcore' Jeff Beck fans. Although Steve did not get to talk to Jennifer he did overhear her tell someone that she was going to do a lot of writing this winter. Any chance some of it will be for Mr. Beck Miss B.?
From backstage at the Boston show....another roving reporter, Bob Wiesberg asked Jeff about his one meeting with Roy Buchanan....Seems they never played together, 'Roy's drummer was psychotic and wanted to start a fight.' And Jennifer commenting on taping the Letterman show, 'It was 48 degrees, like being in an igloo...Dave doesn't want anyone to see him sweat!'.
Also we just recieved this message from Sony....sounds pretty good!!
Hi Guys - I just got done looking at your page - very nice! I have some exciting news for you - beginning tomorrow (April 1st), Jeff Beck will the April artist of the month on Sony Music's Independent Retail Directory, a webpage dedicated to the "mom and pop" record stores of the country that do so much to help great musicians like Jeff Beck. To celebrate this, we are giving away a free autographed Jeff Beck signature Fender guitar on our website. No purchase is necessary and the contest is limited to the US. Also, we are giving away a special white label 12" of a Howie B remix of "Mama Said", sure to be a collectable item. This remix will not be commercially available in any form! It is only available by printing out a coupon from our page and trading it in at any store on our site. I would love to have your page help us out in this promotion through a link, etc... We are at www.the-ird.com I would be more than happy to send you guys a couple of the records as well....thanks so much for your help and keep supporting great music.
Brad Oldham - Sony Music Alternative Marketing
Also to parrot the Epic site, Jeff will be performing the National Anthem at this years Long Beach Grand Prix on Sunday, April 18. The race will be broadcast on ABC, and is televised nationally. Make sure to check it out! And also from Epic, here's a link to a transcript to the Jeff Beck chat that was held on March 1st. P.S. We love how someone there doesn't know how to spell Hymas.
Who Else? broke onto the Billboard charts last week at #99....it's got to go up to #49 to match Guitar Shop but we have no doubt it will. Also there's another Jeff Beck promotion going on out there. Guitar Center, which is national music store chain is now raffling off two signed Jeff Beck signature Fender Stratocasters. You have to go to the store though and pick up the form and put it in their box.
Finally just a couple of funny things that will be in our upcoming New Orleans report. Before the show I was standing outside the House Of Blues. (This is Bill talking) I was waiting for Jeff's limo to show up so I could snap a couple of shots of them arriving at the show. While I'm there who walks by but Levon Helm (of The Band). Levon has his own cafe just down the street called the 'American Classic Cafe'. Well my heart skipped because I'm also a HUGE fan of The Band, so I took a quick photo and then stuck out my hand and said "Love you man". Levon smiled and shook my hand and said, "thanks". It turns out after the show I learned that Jeff and his whole band were at Levon's place the night before until the wee hours 'dancing on the tables' as Jennifer B. put it. Another funny moment....several of us were in Jeff's dressing room after the show and there was the obligatory table of food, snacks etc. for the band along with two bottles of Moet champagne. Jeff in perfect Austin Powers form walks up the the two bottles and says "Hello boys". I almost fell on the floor!
Some other tour stories we have come across. One fan in Las Vegas was outside the hotel where Jeff and the band were staying when they came out to wait for a ride to the airport. The fan got to talk briefly to Jeff and was told by Jeff that the next U.S. tour might be a double billing featuring Sting. We've heard this was in the works but now won't happen due the death of Sting's keyboardist Kenny Kirkland. And another celebrity siting at a Jeff show. Besides the aformentioned sitings of Eric Johnson and Steve Vai in the Batten report, seems Adrian Belew was in attendance at the Cincinnati show. Acccording to Adrian he drove up from Nashville because he'd never seen Jeff Beck before! Finally is it just us or does that 12" remix of 'What Mama Said' really suck?
Right before going to press so to speak the following news came in....THIS JUST IN.....Jeff Beck WILL NOT appear at Woodstock '99 as we first reported. This cancellation however is nothing like the one in '69 when JBG MKI broke up. Rather it seems that Woodstock '99 will be a pay per view cable event as well as a live event this year. From what we hear there have been some major 'misunderstandings' between the promoters and performers as to the distribution (if any) of the pay per view revenues. Another date announced is Jones Beach, NY on August 25th with Johnny Lang sharing the bill.
Itinerary for this month also just in from Jennifer B.......off the Hawaii on the 17th then on to Japan May 20th. Also on to London July 6th for pre U.S. rehearsals and (listen up) set changes.
Speaking of Japan, which we were a second ago, here are the recent 'Toyko FM Weekly Album Top 10' chart listings for 'Who Else?' in Japan;
3/20 - #6 3/27 - #2 (Wow!) 4/3 - #4 4/10 - #5 4/17 - #6 4/24 - #10On April 30th the ranking on the HMV which is the biggest CD store in Japan was #34, at one point it was #3 on this chart. We're sure they'll be some movement once the tour starts over there.
8/13 Knoxville,TN Tenn.Theatre 8/14 Atlanta,GA Tabernacle 8/15 Jacksonville,FL Florida Theatre 8/17 Pompano Beach,FL Pompano Beach Amph.* 8/18 Tampa,FL Ice Palace* 8/20 Myrtle Beach,SC House of Blues 8/21 Norfolk,VA Boathouse 8/23 Mansfield,MA Tweeter Center* 8/25 Wantaugh, NY Jones Beach Theater* 8/26 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center* 8/27 Baltimore,MD Pier Six Concert Pavillion 8/28 Camden, NJ Blockbuster-Sony Music Entertainment Center* 8/30 Syracuse,NY New York State Fairgrounds* 8/31 Stanhope, NJ Waterloo Villiage* 9/2 Buffalo,NY Darien Lakes Performing Arts Center* 9/3 Toronto,Canada Molson Amphitheatre* 9/4 Grand Rapids,MI Van Andel Arena* 9/8 Cleveland,OH Flats at Nautica Stage* 9/9 Clarkston,MI Pine Knob Music Theater* 9/10 Tinley Park,IL New World Music Theater* 9/11 Minneapolis,MN Northrop Auditorium 9/13 Winnepeg,Canada Walker Theatre 9/15 Edmonton,Canada Edmonton Jubilee Auditorium 9/16 Calgary,Canada Calgary Jubilee Auditoruim 9/18 Vancouver,Canada Queen Elizabeth Theatre 9/19 Spokane,WA Opera House 9/21 Puyallup, WA Western Washington Fairgrounds 9/22 Portland,OR Civic Auditorium 9/24 Concord, CA Concord Pavillion 9/25 Las Vegas,NV House of Blues 9/27 Salt Lake City, UT Kingsbury Hall 10/9 London,England Shepherd's Bush Empire 10/10 London,England Shepherd's Bush Empire * indicates co-headline with Jonny LangA quick note...at one time we also had a tour schedule that included 'tba' dates for Concord, CA, Salt Lake City and Denver but we haven't gotten any more info on them so we don't know.
It seems that Steve Alexander hasn't had any down time this year. According to a fan who spoke with him after the Oakland show, when he returned to the UK after the first US tour he was recording with Duran Duran prior to taking off to Japan. Also, Annette Carson's 'Jeff Beck, Crazy Fingers' is selling quite well in Britain. At the beginning of June it was #3 on the Helter Skelter's (England's leading rock music bookstore) book list.
Jeff is on the cover of the latest Fender 'Frontline' magazine with some good interviews. Inside is a picture of Jeff's new 'Strat Fink' guitar made by the custom shop. Those of you old enough to remember the old 'Rat Fink' logos made by Big Daddy Roth in the 60's will get a kick out of this. His son painted one of Jeff's rods on the guitar...'Rat Fink' looks like 'Jeff Fink' driving, a Strat neck for a gearshift! Jeff loves it...he's a big fan.
Here's a funny thing that happened during the last leg of the tour in Texas. While there local guitar maker Ron Frey met Jeff backstage and asked Jeff if he could build him a guitar, he makes very good Strat knockoffs. Jeff's reply? "Actually what I really need right now is a new washing machine."
Our bud Eric Mirrell actually got backstage for the Conan show with Jeff on it. He and 20th Century Guitar's Larry Acunto were guests of The Max Weinberg 7's guitarist Jimmy Vivino. Even though he is on hiatus from the show, Max was in fact at the taping as well Pat Benatar's ex-guitarist Scott Sheets. As Jimmy Vivino put it, "It's a big day around here.". All got to hear three run throughs of 'Psycho Sam' during one in which the BBC's Ruby Wax (also on the show) got on stage and shimmied and danced next to Jeff. For those of you who saw the last leg of the tour, you'll remember that 'Psycho Sam' had that sample in it of 'Oh Behave' from Austin Powers, well that is gone now as you can hear on Conan (and on the present tour) and is replaced with a sample of Randy Hope-Taylor screaming at the top of his lungs...'Silence!!' We can also report from Larry Acunto, who did get to go into Jeff's dressing room with Jimmy Vinino, that Jimmy and Jeff did jam a little in there trading Scotty Moore licks.
Lastly, we just got back from the Pompano Beach show and here's our report on that, we're not going to do a whole article on it this time. First of all the show was outside, totally outside, no roof at all for the audience and it was raining, boy, was it raining. During Jonny Lang's set, which was great by the way, it wasn't just raining, it was pouring. Even with paunchos on we couldn't have been wetter if we were sitting in a swimming pool. And lightening, lots of lightening. The crowd was kind of going 'oooh' and 'aaah' like it was a fireworks show! Jeff came onstage a little before 9PM and the rain let up a little by the third song but came back towards the end of the show around 10:45. If there ever was a testament to the loyalty of Jeff Beck fans this had to be it. Ninety percent of the sell-out audience stayed through one hell of a show through conditions that were tenuous at best. Here's a setlist that is really from memory, it was impossible to write anything down!
What Mama Said - (There was no Rice Pudding intro) Psycho Sam - (With the new sample) Brush With The Blues Savoy Blast From The East A Day In The Life Declan THX138 The Pump Rollin' and Tumblin' Cause We've Ended As Lovers Space For The Papa Rice Pudding/Going Down/Jack Johnson (M. Davis)ed. Angel Even Odds/You Never Know Slingshot (enc) Where Were You Big BlockI missed some songs in here but thanks to Frank Ferrigno I think this is right. It was a pretty wild seen. At several points, Jeff would be looking down playing a riff and the crowd would go nuts. What everyone was actually yelling about was this incredible cloud to cloud lightening that was shooting across the sky. It was funny too because their stage lighting show had fake lightening in it during the THX138. Towards the end of the show Jeff thanked the audience for hanging in there and said "I don't know how you put up with it!"
After the show we did get back to talk to Jennifer Batten and briefly to Steve Alexander. Jeff blew off the aftershow meet and greet which we've heard he's done at every show so far on this tour. We asked Jennifer if she saw that lightening from the stage and she said "Oh yeah". I only had a few questions for her one of which was 'What was that slide thing I saw you using on Conan and tonight during 'Psycho Sam'? She told us it's actually a finger exercise gismo called a finger pumper or something. She uses it because it's easier to get up high on the neck, so don't looking for one of those in a music shop! We had heard that Jeff had finally discovered the internet and found out he's actually seen our page but wasn't very interested (big surprise there) but when he found he could find hot rod parts on the internet he went nuts. "I've been looking for one of those for years!" kind of thing. The only other news we got from JBII is that following their two dates at Shepard's Bush Empire in October, Jeff and company are scheduled to appear on Jools Holland's British TV show. And speaking of TV, that Japanese TV show of Jeff in concert over there we told you about is airing there on August 19th and is 90 minutes long. We imagine copies will be making to the states in no time.
Sam Stricklin saw Jeff at an aftershow in Knoxville. While there, somebody else in the group gave Jeff a picture of a yellow duece he had built. Jeff went nuts, saying to his roadie, "He's nicked my car!"
Lastly, anyone checked out ebay.com lately? Search for "jeff beck" and there is a ton of stuff on there....kind of fun to look through it.
Jeff appears on ZZ Tops latest 'XXX' only it's not as you would expect. Jeff sings on the cut 'Hey, Mr. Millionaire'! In an interview appearing in the Washington Post, Billy Gibbons said, "We saw Jeff play in New York and backstage I extended the rather brave invitation for him to consider performing on the ZZ Top work in progress. Mr. Beck explained that he generally doesn't appear anywhere but on his own records. (Huh?)ed. But when I explained we didn't want him to play guitar but to sing, he said, 'Well, I don't sing. It's a bloody brilliant idea; let's do it!' I said, 'We'll record your vocal in a Texas hotel room just like Robert Johnson.' And that's just what we did."
Our bud Eric Mirell has written an article for the November issue of Twentieth Century Guitar featuring Jennifer Batten. It's got some tour photos and info so pick one up when in comes out in few weeks. There is also a new Jeff Beck guitar book out called 'In Session With Jeff Beck'. It's a package really that contains a CD with demo tracks, background tracks, solo demos (full and slow speed), and background music for practicing and a book with six classic tracks. You can find it at www.musicbooksplus.com/books/wb257.htm.
Jeff's music can sometimes pop up in the most unexpected places....it has been reported that American figure skater Michelle Kwan has been using Jeff's version of 'A Day In The Life' in her new short routine (whatever that is). We hear it's a great routine and with that track it must be.
One last thing, we check out ebay.com every so often for 'jeff beck' stuff and sometimes it's pretty amazing. Several weeks ago someone was auctioning that Japanese pro shoot we told you about a while ago. The item went for $95 with about 29 bids, yow!
I tell you I've listened and listend to that ZZ Top cut 'Mr. Millionaire', that is supposed to have Jeff singing on it but I just can't hear him. He's buried so deep in the mix you would need Bruce Willis and the Armageddon crew to drill it out.
Lastly, in scouring the news groups for info on JB I came across a Brit who had taken some video frames off the 'telly' during Jeff's recent appearance on Jools Holland's show. So, thank you Steve Cobham, because I nicked them off your site so I could share them with everyone.
Be seeing you...